Die roep kom van die sangvoël.

The bird call comes from the songbird.

Breakdown of Die roep kom van die sangvoël.

• kom: to come
• van: of
• die sangvoël: songbird
• die roep: bird call

Questions & Answers about Die roep kom van die sangvoël.

What does die mean here, and why is it used twice?

Here die means the.

Afrikaans uses die as the definite article for:

• singular nouns
• plural nouns
• all grammatical genders

So unlike English, you do not have different forms such as the for one kind of noun and another form for another kind. In this sentence:

• die roep = the call
• die sangvoël = the songbird

It appears twice because both nouns are definite.

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Is roep a noun or a verb in this sentence?

In this sentence, roep is a noun.

You can tell because it comes after the article die:

• die roep = the call

The verb in the sentence is kom.

This can be confusing because roep can also be a verb in Afrikaans, meaning call or cry out, depending on context. For example:

• Die sangvoël roep. = The songbird calls.

So the form is the same, but the job it does in the sentence is different.

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What does kom van mean?